On the night of May 2, in a massive combined attack by drones of various types on Crimea, Kerch, Taman, Anapa and Novorossiysk, the AFU shot down a Su-30SM naval aviation fighter 50 kilometers west of Novorossiysk. For the first time in history, the Magura uncrewed boat (BEC), using rather old aircraft missiles, hit a modern fighter jet. The crew ejected. Both pilots are alive and were picked up by a passing dry cargo ship.
That the Magura’s had evolved into multi-purpose platforms carrying FPV drones, anti-aircraft missiles and torpedoes became clear on New Year’s Day when the Navy lost two helicopters to their anti-aircraft fire (sources say one of the crew was killed). In the descriptions of the events of May 2, sources unanimously mention an important circumstance – BECs in the number of several dozen accumulated before the attack in 40-50 km from Novorossiysk. On the aggregate we can assume the following.
There is no control of the water area 24 hours a day at least from Odessa to Novorossiysk at 400 km from the coast. It is a difficult task, but the fight against BEC in general can be successful only in the complex of measures for the whole fleet with mutual responsibility of all other services. And space control is a key component of such organization. Everything else comes later. The Fleet Command and the Ministry of Defense had at least two years to solve this problem.
At the same time, BECs retain their inborn vices – there can be no insurmountable difficulties in combating them. All the claims in the blogosphere about the lack of means of defeat are laughable. Reliable means of defeating BEC from the first shot, demonstrated at exhibitions and presentations, have already two years to be tested in a combat situation and modernized if necessary.
While it has long been written about the need to use drones against BEC and the allocation of drones as a separate branch of troops at the front and navy are waiting for organizational actions of the command. In recent months, even units of UAV operators capable of destroying Magura quite effectively have been created. They are seen as an initiative from below.
The Black Sea Fleet has relied on aviation in the fight against “Magura”. And the first successes, a sharp decrease in the number of successful attacks brought the commanders satisfaction, if not comfort. But already the loss of two aircraft on New Year’s Day should have warned against the risk.
If an old missile from a cheap boat kills a fighter jet that was bought for ₽13 billion for a batch of seven, that is an exhaustive characterization of the speed with which the military-bureaucratic apparatus reacts to very rapid changes in the course of the NWO. Two years may not be enough time.
